Severe storms cross Great Plains into Midwest

Tornadoes likely as violent storms cross Great Plains into Midwest.

LOS ANGELES |
April 14, 2012

LOS ANGELES, April 14 (UPI) -- The National Weather Service said tornadoes were likely Saturday as violent spring storms blew across the Great Plains into the Midwest.

The U.S. Storm Prediction Center had a high-risk advisory in effect for parts of Kansas and Oklahoma where strong thunderstorms were seen as capable of producing multiple twisters along with large hail and fierce winds, ABC News said.

"All the pieces of the pie are coming together to make a particularly dangerous situation," summed up Accuweather meteorologist Paul Walker.

Those pieces consist of a cold storm front moving to the east and being fueled by a flow of warmer, moister air flowing up from the Gulf of Mexico. Similar conditions created tornadoes in Oklahoma Friday and sent rain rolling across Missouri and central Illinois early Saturday.

Another eastbound storm blew ashore in California Friday and was dropping snow in Arizona and New Mexico before rendezvousing with the gulf air over the wide-open Plains.

Southern California remained wet and chilly early Saturday after seeing wind, hail, plenty of spring showers and snow down to 4,000-foot elevations.

The Los Angeles Times said the snow was heavy enough to close the Grapevine on Interstate 5 north of the city and cause a spike in the number of accidents on the region's busy highways.